Coeur d’Alene · Monica A. Reyna Jennifer C. Smith Barbara E. Foltz Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) ... Diversity of jobs and professional opportunities..... 19 Table 12: Natural

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Coeur d’Alene

Community Survey Resident’s Perspectives on Values, Trends,

Issues, and Future Vision

October 2013

Prepared for:

Coeur d’Alene 2030 Visioning Project

Prepared by:

Monica A. Reyna Jennifer C. Smith

Barbara E. Foltz

Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) University of Idaho

P.O. Box 444290 Moscow, ID 83844-4290

Telephone (208) 885-5595 Fax (208) 885-5554

http://www.agls.uidaho.edu/ssru

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Methodology ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Comparison to Census Data .................................................................................................................... 7

Section 1: Demographics ............................................................................................................................ 7

General Demographics of Respondents ................................................................................................. 8

Political Profile of Respondents .............................................................................................................. 9

Section 2: Strengths and Weaknesses ...................................................................................................... 10

Section 3: Current Issues and Immediate Needs ...................................................................................... 12

Section 4: Residents’ Future Vision .......................................................................................................... 13

Section 5: Meeting Expectations .............................................................................................................. 14

Importance of Community Qualities .................................................................................................... 14

Rating greater Coeur d’Alene ................................................................................................................ 16

Comparisons of Each Community Quality ............................................................................................ 18

Section 6: Past and Future ........................................................................................................................ 27

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 28

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List of Tables

Table 1: Comparison to Census Data .......................................................................................................... 7

Table 2: Time lived in community by strength community/people ......................................................... 11

Table 3: Time lived in the area by biggest weakness is lack of jobs ......................................................... 11

Table 4: Primary/secondary residence by accountability of community leaders .................................... 12

Table 5: Primary/secondary residence by improved education in vision ................................................ 13

Table 6: Primary/secondary residence by more jobs in vision ................................................................. 13

Table 7: Quality of primary and secondary schools .................................................................................. 18

Table 8: Small town feel ............................................................................................................................ 18

Table 9: Good place to raise children ....................................................................................................... 18

Table 10: Availability of living-wage jobs .................................................................................................. 19

Table 11: Diversity of jobs and professional opportunities ...................................................................... 19

Table 12: Natural Environment ................................................................................................................. 19

Table 13: Availability of parks, trails and recreational opportunities ...................................................... 20

Table 14: Availability of shopping ............................................................................................................. 20

Table 15: Quality health care .................................................................................................................... 20

Table 16: Safe, crime free neighborhoods ................................................................................................ 21

Table 17: Good relations between people from different cultural backgrounds .................................... 21

Table 18: Availability of social services ..................................................................................................... 21

Table 19: Availability of affordable housing ............................................................................................. 22

Table 20: Availability of the arts including music, theatre and dance ..................................................... 22

Table 21: Air and water quality ................................................................................................................. 23

Table 22: Respectful dialogue and cooperation among community leaders ........................................... 23

Table 23: Quality of local government leadership .................................................................................... 23

Table 24: Community involvement in local government and decision-making ....................................... 24

Table 25: Being friendly to tourists ........................................................................................................... 24

Table 26: Well-planned city ...................................................................................................................... 24

Table 27: Assessing service taxes on tourists ........................................................................................... 25

Table 28: Lack of traffic congestion .......................................................................................................... 25

Table 29: Availability of bike paths ........................................................................................................... 25

Table 30: Availability of public transportation ......................................................................................... 26

Table 31: Proximity to major airport ........................................................................................................ 26

Table 32: Access to high speed internet ................................................................................................... 26

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Table of Figures

Figure 1: Time lived in greater Coeur d’Alene ............................................................................................ 8

Figure 2: Income ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Figure 3: Political Views .............................................................................................................................. 9

Figure 4: Political Party ............................................................................................................................... 9

Figure 5: Importance of Community Qualities ......................................................................................... 14

Figure 6: Importance of Community Qualities Cont. ................................................................................ 15

Figure 7: Rating Community Qualities ...................................................................................................... 16

Figure 8: Rating Community Qualities Cont. ............................................................................................ 17

Figure 9: Comparing views of the past and future ................................................................................... 27

Figure 10: Relationship between views of the past and future................................................................ 27

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The Coeur d’Alene Community Survey covers a variety of issues and topics. Residents ranked qualities of the greater Coeur d’Alene area, identified strengths and weaknesses, as well as gave their perspectives on the future of the region. Several key issues surfaced in this research including jobs, growth, our natural environment, recreation, and education. Residents value key elements of our natural environment, the availability of parks, trails and recreation, air and water quality. Residents also value social elements such as a good place to raise a family, quality healthcare, and safety. In general these key values appear to be met as resident’s rate greater Coeur d’Alene highly in these areas. Quality schools and affordable housing are also valued but are not rated as highly as the above. The biggest gap between what is valued and how we rate greater CDA as delivering on that value is the area of good wage jobs and job diversity. Growth and how we manage growth is very important to respondents as well. Other specific findings include:

- Half of residents feel that in the future, the greater Coeur d’Alene area will become better.

- Over half of residents reported Coeur d’Alene’s greatest strength to be its scenic beauty and environment.

- One in five residents believe that the greatest issue facing Coeur d’Alene today is population growth.

- One out of four residents reported that the greatest issue facing Coeur d’Alene today is a lack of jobs.

- Over seventy percent of respondents feel that it is ‘Very important’ for a community to have good relations between people who have different cultural background.

- Seven out of ten respondents also feel that respectful dialogue and cooperation among community leaders and citizens is ‘Very important’.

- One in five respondents believe that population growth will influence the greater Coeur d’Alene as a better or worse place to live.

Executive Summary

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Methodology

The final response rate

was 20.7% with a

cooperation rate of 35.8%.

The Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) at the University of Idaho was contracted by Coeur d’Alene 2030 Visioning Project, which is a group of private and public organizations in the greater Coeur d’Alene area, to conduct a community survey for the residents of the greater Coeur d’Alene area. Two frames were used for the sample: a landline frame (n = 800) and a wireless number frame (n = 2,000). An oversample of 133 listed numbers were selected from the city of Plummer in order to increase the response of hard to reach residents and residents within certain race, income and geography. The final survey instrument is shown in Appendix A. The survey took 15 minutes on average to complete as was approved by the University of Idaho Institutional Review Board. All SSRU telephone interviewers receive training in proper telephone interviewing, phone etiquette, and the use of Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) software. In addition, interviewers receive training specific to the survey, including what kinds of questions respondents may have regarding the study and how to code specific types of responses. Each interviewer is required to complete an online National Institutes of Health training course in human subject research, including confidentiality rules and regulations. Interviewers were monitored during each calling session by trained supervisors. Data was collected on WinCati, a computer assisted telephone interviewing system, and analyzed using Statistical Analysis Software (Version 9.3. 2009. SAS Institute, Cary, NC). To increase the telephone survey response rate, a pre-calling postcard was sent to all landline respondents prior to the telephone calls (26 July, 2013). The postcard stated the SSRU would be contacting the household within the next week, it also described the purpose of the survey and provided a toll-free number to call the SSRU if they had any questions or concerns regarding the study (Appendix B). Calls began the 29th of July, 2013 and continued until the 4th of September 2013. Each number in the sample was called at least eight times and up to ten times in attempt to complete an interview. Interviewers made calls during the work week in the mornings, afternoons, evenings, as well as on Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. PST in an attempt to reach as many potential respondents for this project as possible. The final response rate for the two frames combined is 20.7 percent, the final cooperation rate is 35.8 percent, and the final refusal rate is 31.6 percent. Respondents were also asked several open ended questions which were transcribed verbatim and submitted to a vigorous coding process. The following are the results from the interviews. Data was analyzed using the SAS statistical software package. Frequencies, standard errors (using the finite population correction), and 95% confidence limits were computed using the ‘surveyfreq’ procedure in SAS. Full tabular results are presented in Appendix C and; all open ended responses are presented in Appendix D.

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U.S. Census Bureau. 2005-2009 American Community Survey Five Year Estimates

Age Category ACS Sample 95% CL

18 – 19 yrs old 4.3% 1.8% 0.5% - 3.1%

20 – 24 yrs old 10.4% 4.0% 2.1% - 6.0%

25 – 34 yrs old 18.3% 10.6% 7.6% - 13.7%

35 – 44 yrs old 17.6% 10.4% 7.3% - 13.4%

45 – 54 yrs old 18.6% 15.4% 11.8% - 19.0%

55 – 59 yrs old 8.1% 13.6% 10.2% - 17.0%

60 – 64 yrs old 6.5% 9.3% 6.5% - 12.2%

65 – 74 yrs old 8.6% 23.2% 19.1% - 27.4%

75 – 84 yrs old 5.4% 10.1% 7.1% - 13.1%

Over 85 yrs old 2.2% 1.5% 0.3% - 2.7%

Comparison to Census Data In order to determine sample representativeness, we compared the age distribution of adults (over 18) for the respondents in the Coeur d’Alene Community Survey to the percent of adults over age 18 in the state of Idaho as estimated in the 2005-2009 American Community Survey (ACS) by the U.S. Census Bureau. When the Census figures are compared to the ninety-five percent confidence intervals of the sample estimates (both landline and cell phone frames), the youngest residents are slightly underrepresented and the older age groups are slightly overrepresented. To account for the high proportion of older respondents we have checked for bias by checking responses of older respondents against others to see if any statistically significant differences were detected.

Section 1:

Demographics

Table 1: Comparison to Census Data

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0%25%50%

Less than 5yrs

Btwn 5-9 yrs

Btwn 10-14yrs

Btwn 15-24yrs

Btwn 25-34yrs

Btwn 35-49yrs

More than50yrs

General Demographics of Respondents Respondents were asked demographic questions such as occupation, age, income, voter status, education, and more. Most respondents have lived in the area between fifteen and twenty four years. In regards to occupational status, the highest proportion of respondents were employed full time (thirty-eight percent) while the next highest were retired (thirty-six percent). The majority (seventy-nine percent) are home owners. Also, the majority of respondents (seventy-two percent) live outside of city limits. Respondents had a variety of education levels, the highest being some college (twenty-eight percent) or bachelor’s degree (twenty-three percent). The majority of people interviewed listed the greater Coeur d’Alene area as their primary residence (ninety-two percent). Fifty percent of respondents were female and fifty percent were male.

Figure 1: Time lived in greater Coeur d’Alene

Figure 2: Income

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0%25%50%

Very conservative

Conservative

Moderate

Liberal

Very liberal

35.1%

14.6%

47.9%

2.3%

Republican

Democrat

Independent/nopreference/other

Don't know

Political Profile of Respondents About fifty percent of respondents identified their political views as ‘Very conservative’ or ‘Conservative’. This is followed by thirty-four percent who identified as ‘Moderate’ and fifteen percent who identified as ‘Liberal’ or ‘Very Liberal’. When asked about political party affiliation, a little less than half (forty-eight percent) of respondents identified as ‘Independent/No preference/Other’. A little over one-third of respondents identified as Republican (thirty-five percent). Fifteen percent of respondents identified as Democrat and two percent were unsure. Eighty-one percent of respondents are registered to vote at their current address.

Figure 3: Political Views

Figure 4: Political Party

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Respondents were asked several open-ended questions during the interview including ‘What is the greater Coeur d’Alene area’s greatest strength?’ and ‘What is the greater Coeur d’Alene area’s greatest weakness?’ The most frequently reported strength was scenic beauty and environment with fifty-two percent of respondents. The next highest reported strengths were trails and recreation (eighteen percent), climate (fifteen percent), and community/ people (fifteen percent). When asked about the greatest weakness, greater CDA residents also had a variety of answers. The most frequent responses were low paying jobs at sixteen percent. The next highest weaknesses were local government at twelve percent, and lack of jobs at twelve percent. Several cross tabulations were run with the highest ranking strengths and weaknesses. This included age, number of years living in the area, political view, primary/secondary residence, and outside/inside Coeur d’Alene city limits. There were no statistical differences against those who live within city limits and those who live outside of city limits. Also no statistical differences were detected by residents who most likely will and will not be alive in 2030.

Section 2: Strengths

and Weaknesses

Half of greater Coeur d’Alene’s residents feel that the area’s greatest

strength is its scenic beauty and

environment.

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Strength

community/people Strength not

community/people

Less than 5yrs 32.3% 67.7%

Between 5-9yrs 3.2% 96.8%

Between 10-14yrs 12.7% 87.3%

Between 15-24yrs 15.4% 84.6%

Between 25-34ys 17.2% 82.8%

Between 35-49yrs 18.0% 82.0%

More than 50yrs 11.1% 88.9%

p-value = .0162

Biggest weakness

is lack of jobs Biggest weakness is

not lack of jobs

Less than 5yrs 87.1% 12.9%

Between 5-9yrs 96.8% 3.2%

Between 10-14yrs 90.5% 9.5%

Between 15-24 yrs 98.1% 1.9%

Between 25-34ys 86.2% 13.8%

Between 35-49yrs 93.4% 6.6%

More than 50yrs 100.0% 0.0%

p-value = 0.0096

Differences were found based on the number of years respondents have lived in the area. Residents who have lived in the greater Coeur d’Alene for less than five years were the most likely to feel that the community/people is its greatest strength. Interestingly, residents who have lived in the area between five and nine years were the least likely to list people/community as its strength.

Residents who have lived in the area between fifteen and twenty-four years or for more than fifty years were more likely to list lack of jobs as greater Coeur d’Alene’s biggest weakness.

Table 2: Time lived in community by strength community/people

: Time lived in area by community/people strength

Table 3: Time lived in the area by biggest weakness is lack of jobs

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Section 3:

Current Issues and

Immediate Needs When asked about the greatest issue facing greater Coeur d’Alene today one out of five residents listed population growth. This was followed by lack of jobs at twelve percent, and local government leadership at ten percent. These highest ranking issues were cross tabulated with key demographics such as age of respondent, primary or secondary residence, political view, or residence within or outside of city limits. No statistically significant differences were found. Respondents were also asked the question ‘In your opinion, what one thing can the greater Coeur d’Alene area do in order to grow and develop in a way that meets your expectations for the future?’ Fifteen percent of respondents believe that creating a better business climate is one thing that the greater Coeur d’Alene can do right now to better meet the their expectations for the future. This is followed closely by twelve percent who would like to see more accountability for community leaders. The third most frequent response was control or manage growth (eleven percent). Cross tabulations of key demographics were also run with these top responses. From these, only one statistically significant relationship was detected. Respondents who identified greater Coeur d’Alene as their primary residence were significantly more likely to mention accountability of community leaders.

Accountability of

community leaders

Did not mention accountability of

community leaders

Primary Residence 12.8% 87.2%

Secondary Residence 0.0% 100.0%

p-value = 0.0233

One out of five residents believe that population

growth is the biggest issue facing

greater Coeur d’Alene today.

Table 4: Primary/secondary residence by accountability of community leaders

Fifteen percent of respondents believe that the one thing

greater Coeur d’Alene can do in order to grow

and develop in a way that meets their

expectations for the future is to create a

better business climate.

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Section 4: Residents’

Future Vision

Respondents were also asked what their vision was for their area. The answers varied among twenty different topics. The most frequent answer was more jobs with fifteen percent. The second most frequent answer was improved education with ten percent. Cross tabulations were run with age, number of years lived in the area, political views, primary/secondary residence, and residence outside and inside city limits. Statistical significance was only found based on primary or secondary residence. Respondents who listed greater Coeur d’Alene as their primary residence were more than four times more likely to include more jobs in their vision.

Vision Includes more jobs

Vision does not include more

jobs



p-value = 0.0297

Also respondents who identify greater Coeur d’Alene as their primary residence were more likely to list improved education as a part of their vision for Coeur d’Alene.

Vision includes more improved

education

Vision does not include

improved education



p-value = 0.0233

Table 5: Primary/secondary residence by improved education in vision

Fifteen percent of respondents see

more jobs in their vision for Coeur

d’Alene.

Table 6: Primary/secondary residence by more jobs in vision

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0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Quality of primary andsecondary schools

Small town feel

Good place to raisechildren

Availability of living-wage jobs

Diversity of jobs andprofessional

opportunities

Natural environment

Availability of parks,trails, and

recreational…

Availability ofshopping

Quality health care

Safe, crime freeneighborhoods

Good relationsbetween people from

different cultural…

Availability of socialservices

Good place to own orrun a business

Not important Important

Importance of Community Qualities

Respondents were asked how important twenty-seven different community qualities were to them. Each respondent could select ‘Very Important’, ‘Somewhat Important’, ‘Somewhat Unimportant’, or ‘Very Unimportant. Generally the majority of respondents felt that each quality was either very important or somewhat important. The areas that had the lowest proportion of residents who felt it was very important or somewhat important were: assessing service taxes on tourists (sixty-eight percent), availability of shopping (seventy-five percent), and proximity to major airport (seventy-nine percent). There was, however, variation between ‘Somewhat important’ and ‘Very important’. See ‘Comparisons of Each Community Quality’. The qualities that contained higher proportions of ‘Very important’ than ‘Somewhat important’ were air and water quality with eighty-eight percent, safe crime free neighborhoods with eighty-nine percent, natural environment with eighty-four percent, and good place to raise children with eighty-six percent. The qualities where higher proportions of respondents selected ‘Somewhat important’ than ‘Very important’ were proximity to a major airport (fifty percent), availability of the arts (fifty-one) percent, and availability of shopping (fifty-three) percent.

Section 5: Meeting

Expectations

Figure 5: Importance of Community Qualities

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0%20%40%60%80%100%

Availability ofaffordable housing

Availability of the arts,including music,

theater, and dance

Air and water quality

Quality of localgovernment leadership

Respectful dialogue andcooperation amongcommunity leaders

Communityinvolvement in local

government and…

Well-planned city

Being friendly totourists

Assessing service taxeson tourists

Lack of trafficcongestion

Availability of bikepaths and trails

Availability of publictransportation, such as

buses or car pools

Proximity to majorairport

Access to high speedInternet

Not important Important

Figure 6: Importance of Community Qualities Cont.

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0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Quality of primary andsecondary schools

Small town feel

Good place to raisechildren

Availability of living-wagejobs

Diversity of jobs andprofessional

opportunities

Natural environment

Availability of parks,trails, and recreational

opportunities

Availability of shopping

Quality health care

Safe, crime freeneighborhoods

Good relations betweenpeople from differentcultural backgrounds

Availability of socialservices

Good place to own or runa business

Very Poor/Poor Fair Very Good/GoodRating greater Coeur d’Alene

When asked to rate the greater Coeur d’Alene for each quality we see that generally CDA residents feel that each quality in the area is ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’. There is, however, variation in the distribution of the responses. Some qualities contain an extremely high proportion of ‘Very good/Good’ (see Figures 7 and 8). Those qualities are availability of bike paths and trails (ninety-two percent) being friendly to tourists (ninety-one percent), air and water quality (ninety percent), good place to raise children (ninety-four percent), natural environment (ninety-six percent), and availability of parks, trails and recreational opportunities (ninety-eight percent).

Figure 7: Rating Community Qualities

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The qualities that had a more even distribution were availability of public transportation at fifty-one percent, assessing service taxes on tourists at forty-nine percent, lack of traffic congestion at forty-two percent, well planned city at fifty-five percent, respectful dialogue and cooperation among community leaders at forty-four percent, and quality of local government leadership at forty-four percent. The only quality that had higher proportion of residents who felt it was ‘Fair’ was diversity of jobs and professional opportunities (forty percent). The only quality that had a higher proportion of respondents select ‘Poor’ or ‘Very Poor’ was availability of living wage jobs (thirty-nine percent). Assessing service taxes is the only quality to have the highest proportion of respondents selected ‘Don’t know’ (thirty-four percent).

Figure 8: Rating Community Qualities Cont.

0%25%50%75%100%

Availability of affordablehousing

Availability of the arts,including music, theater,

and dance


Quality of localgovernment leadership

Respectful dialogue andcooperation amongcommunity leaders

Community involvementin local government and

decision-making

Well-planned city

Being friendly to tourists

Assessing service taxes ontourists

Lack of traffic congestion

Availability of bike pathsand trails

Availability of publictransportation, such as

buses or car pools

Proximity to major airport

Access to high speedInternet

Very Poor/Poor Fair Very Good/Good

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Quality Importance % Rating %

Quality of primary and secondary

schools

Very Important 76.2% Very Good 15.3%

Somewhat Important

17.3% Good 45.4%

Somewhat Unimportant

4.3% Fair 26.2%

Very Unimportant 1.2% Poor 7.2%

Don’t know 1.0% Very Poor 2.0%

Don’t know 4.0%


Small town feel


Somewhat Important

37.2% Good 48.6%


6.2% Fair 17.5%



Don’t know 0.0%


Good place to raise children


Somewhat Important

11.0% Good 47.3%


1.4% Fair 3.9%



Don’t know 0.7%

Comparisons of Each Community Quality

Ninety-three percent of respondents feel that quality of primary and secondary schools is ‘Very important’ or ‘Somewhat important’. A little under half of respondents felt that the greater Coeur d’Alene area is ‘Good’, Twenty-six percent of respondents selected ‘Fair’. Residents outside of Coeur d’Alene city limits were almost twice as likely to rate quality of primary and secondary schools as ‘Poor’ or ‘Very poor’ (p-value 0.0208). Ninety-two percent of

respondents feel that a small

town feel is ‘Very important’ or

‘Somewhat important’. A total of

seventy-five percent feel that

CDA is doing ‘Good’ or ‘Very

good’ at having a small town feel.

Those who live outside of city

limits were more likely than those

who live inside of city limits to

answer that small town feel is

very important and to rate it as

‘Good’ or ‘Very good’.

Again, almost all respondents feel

that the community quality of

‘Good place to raise children’ is

‘Very Important’ or ‘Somewhat

Important’ (ninety-seven

percent). Ninety-three percent of

respondents also feel that greater

CDA is doing ‘Very good’ or

‘Good’ as a good place to raise

children.

Table 7: Quality of primary and secondary schools

Table 8: Small town feel

Table 9: Good place to raise children

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Availability of living-wage jobs


Somewhat Important

15.3% Good 17.5%


2.6% Fair 35.8%



Don’t know 3.2%


Diversity of jobs and professional

opportunities


Somewhat Important

26.7% Good 22.5%


2.4% Fair 40.2%



Don’t know 3.2%


Natural environment


Somewhat Important

15.5% Good 37.4%


0.2% Fair 3.9%



Don’t know 0.0%

When asked about the availability

of living wage jobs ninety-five

percent of respondents selected

‘Very important’ or ‘Somewhat

important’. When rating the CDA

area forty-percent of respondents

felt that greater CDA was doing

‘Poor’ or ‘Very poor’. About one

third of respondents (thirty-six

percent) felt that greater CDA was

‘Fair’, and only twenty-two percent

felt that it was ‘Good’ or ‘Very

good’.

On the same topic of jobs, residents

were asked about diversity of jobs.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents

felt that diversity of jobs and

professional opportunities is ‘Very

important’ followed by twenty-

seven who felt that it was

‘Somewhat important’. When

rating greater CDA forty percent felt

that it was ‘Fair’. Twenty-nine

percent feel that it is doing ‘Very

poor’ or ‘Poor’. Twenty-seven

percent felt that the area is ‘Very

good’ or ‘Good’.

Almost all respondents (ninety-nine

percent) feel that the natural

environment is ‘Very important’ or

‘Somewhat important’. Ninety-six

percent of respondents feel that

the greater CDA’s natural

environment is ‘Very good or

‘Good’.

Table 10: Availability of living-wage jobs

Table 11: Diversity of jobs and professional opportunities

Table 12: Natural Environment

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Availability of parks, trails, and

recreational opportunities


Somewhat Important

30.4% Good 37.8%


2.2% Fair 2.0%



Don’t know 0.5%


Availability of shopping


Somewhat Important

53.3% Good 49.1%


22.4% Fair 17.0%



Don’t know 0.5%


Quality health care


Somewhat Important

17.6% Good 42.7%


1.2% Fair 15.6%



Don’t know 3.2%

Ninety-seven percent of

respondents rated availability of

parks, trails and recreation as

‘Very important’ or ‘Somewhat

important’. Ninety-seven percent

of respondents feel that greater

CDA is ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’.

When asked about the availability

of shopping fifty-percent of

respondents feel that it is

‘Somewhat important’. Twenty-

two percent of respondents feel

that it is ‘Somewhat unimportant’,

followed closely by twenty-one

percent who feel it is ‘Very

important’. When rating greater

CDA a little under half of

respondents (forty-nine percent)

feel availability of shopping is

‘Good’, one-fourth feel it is ‘Very

good’ and seventeen percent feel

that it is ‘Fair’.

Eighty-one percent of respondents feel that quality health care is ‘Very important’, followed by eighteen percent of respondents who feel it is ‘Somewhat important’. About three quarters of respondents rated greater CDA as ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’. This is followed by sixteen percent who feel it is ‘Fair’.

Table 13: Availability of parks, trails and recreational opportunities

Table 14: Availability of shopping

Table 15: Quality health care

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Safe, crime free neighborhoods


Somewhat Important

10.6% Good 50.1%


0.5% Fair 22.7%



Don’t know 1.2%


Good relations between people from different

cultural backgrounds


Somewhat Important

25.3% Good 44.6%


2.4% Fair 28.8%



Don’t know 4.7%


Availability of social services (such as health,

nutrition, and family assistance

programs etc.)


Somewhat Important

39.9% Good 50.6%


8.0% Fair 19.0%



Don’t know 0.0%

Eighty-nine percent of residents feel

that safe crime free neighborhoods

are ‘Very important’, followed by

eleven percent who feel it is

‘Somewhat important’. Seventy-one

percent of respondents rated greater

CDA as ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’.

Another quality we asked residents

to rate was good relations between

people from different cultural

backgrounds. Seventy-one percent of

respondents feel it is ‘Very

important’. Followed by twenty-five

percent who feel it is ‘Somewhat

important’. Over half of respondents

feel that greater CDA is doing ‘Very

good’ or ‘Good’ (fifty-seven percent).

Twenty-nine percent feel it is ‘Fair’.

Less than ten percent feel that it is

‘Poor’ or ‘Very poor’ (nine percent).

Those whose secondary residence is

in greater Coeur d’Alene were less

likely to feel that this quality is

‘Somewhat important’ or ‘Very

important’.

Eighty-nine percent of respondents feel that availability of social services is ‘Very important’ or ‘Somewhat important’. Sixty-six percent of respondents feel that greater CDA is doing ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’. Nineteen percent feel that it is ‘Fair’ and (sixteen percent) feel that it is ‘Very poor’ or ‘Poor’.

Table 16: Safe, crime free neighborhoods

Table 17: Good relations between people from different cultural backgrounds

Table 18: Availability of social services

Table 19: Good place to own or run a business

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Good place to own or run a

business


Somewhat Important

32.9% Good 42.0%


4.1% Fair 27.2%



Don’t know 7.4%


Availability of affordable housing


Somewhat Important

30.0% Good 45.2%


2.4% Fair 30.4%



Don’t know 3.2%


Availability of the arts, including music, theater,

and dance


Somewhat Important

50.6% Good 42.0%


11.6% Fair 27.4%



Don’t know 4.0%

Six out of ten CDA residents feel

that it is ‘Very important’ for a

community to be a good place to

own or run a business, followed

by thirty-three percent of

respondents who feel that it is

‘Somewhat important’. Forty-two

percent of respondents rated

greater CDA as ‘Good’, followed

by twenty-seven percent who rate

it as ‘Fair’ and seventeen percent

who rated it as ‘Very good’.

The majority of respondents feel

that availability of affordable

housing is ‘Very important’ sixty-

seven percent. Thirty-percent of

respondent feel that it is

‘Somewhat important’. When

rating greater CDA, forty-five

percent feel that it is ‘Good’,

followed by thirty-percent who

feel that it is ‘Fair’ , and eleven

percent who feel that it is ‘Very

good’.

A little over half of respondents

believe that availability of the arts

including music, theater, and

dance is ‘Somewhat important’.

Thirty-four percent believe that it

is ‘Very important’ and twelve

percent believe that it is

‘Somewhat unimportant’. Fifty-

eight percent of residents rated

greater CDA as ‘Very good’ or

‘Good’ for this quality. Twenty-

seven percent rated it as ‘Fair’.

Table 19: Availability of affordable housing

Table 20: Availability of the arts including music, theatre and dance

Table 19: Good place to own or run a business

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Somewhat Important

11.2% Good 52.2%


0.5% Fair 8.6%



Don’t know

0.5%


Quality of local government leadership

Very Important 74.0%

Very Good 6.2%

Somewhat Important

24.1%

Good 33.5%


1.5% Fair 37.4%



Don’t know

5.2%


Respectful dialogue and cooperation

among community

leaders

Very Important 70.7%

Very Good 6.2%

Somewhat Important

26.6%

Good 32.0%


1.2% Fair 37.9%



Don’t know

7.4%

Eighty-eight percent of respondents feel that air and water quality are ‘Very important’, followed by eleven percent who feel that it is ‘Somewhat important’. Eighty-nine percent of respondents believe that greater CDA is ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’ for this quality. This is followed by nine percent who believe that it is fair. A little less than three quarters of residents ranked the quality of local government leadership as ‘Very important’. Twenty-four percent ranked it as ‘Somewhat important’. When rating this quality thirty-seven percent of residents feel that the greater CDA area is ‘Fair’. Thirty-four percent of residents feel that greater CDA is ‘Good’ and fourteen percent feel that it is ‘Poor’. Seventy-one percent of respondents

feel that respectful dialogue and

cooperation among community

leaders is ‘Very important’. This is

followed by twenty-seven percent

that feel it is ‘Somewhat important’.

For this quality thirty-eight percent of

respondents rated greater CDA as

‘Fair’, thirty-two percent rated it as

‘Good’ and thirteen percent rate it as

that it ‘Poor’.

Table 21: Air and water quality

Table 23: Quality of local government leadership

Table 22: Respectful dialogue and cooperation among community leaders

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Community involvement in

local government and decision-

making


Somewhat Important

25.6% Good 29.6%


1.7% Fair 34.5%



Don’t know 6.4%


Well-planned city


Somewhat Important

29.3% Good 40.8%


3.7% Fair 35.9%



Don’t know 2.0%


Being friendly to tourists


Somewhat Important

36.2% Good 53.3%


6.1% Fair 8.1%



Don’t know 1.5%

Seventy-one percent of

respondents feel that community

involvement is ‘Very important’

while twenty six percent feel that

it is ‘Somewhat important’. Thirty-

five percent of respondents rated

the greater CDA area as ‘Fair’,

thirty percent feel that it is ‘Good’

and seventeen percent feel that it

is ‘Poor’. Those whose primary

residence is in greater CDA were

significantly more likely to rate

this quality as ‘Good’ or ‘Very

good’ (p-value .0169).

Sixty-six percent of respondents

think a well-planned city is ‘Very

important’, while twenty-nine

percent feel that it is ‘Somewhat

important’. Forty-percent of

respondents feel that greater CDA

is ‘Good’, thirty-six feel that it is

‘Fair’.

Fifty-six percent of respondents

feel that being friendly to tourists

is ‘Very important’, thirty-six

percent feel that it is ‘Somewhat

important’. A little over half (fifty-

three percent) of respondents

rated the greater CDA is ‘Good’ at

being friendly to tourists,

followed by thirty-five percent

who feel that the greater CDA

area is ‘Very good’.

Table 24: Community involvement in local government and decision-making

Table 26: Well-planned city

Table 25: Being friendly to tourists

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Assessing service taxes on tourists (e.g. bed

tax)


Somewhat Important

46.2% Good 24.5%


22.6% Fair 26.3%



Don’t know 33.5%


Lack of traffic congestion


Somewhat Important

34.7% Good 29.8%


3.4% Fair 35.5%



Don’t know 0.5%


Availability of bike paths and

trails


Somewhat Important

36.8% Good 51.1%


7.4% Fair 6.9%



Don’t know 1.2%

When asked about assessing service taxes on tourists forty-six percent of respondents believe it is ‘Somewhat important’. Twenty-three percent of respondents believe that it is ‘Somewhat unimportant’. One third of respondents selected ‘Don’t know’ when rating the greater CDA area. Twenty-six percent selected ‘Fair’. Respondents who identified as ‘Very conservative’ or ‘Conservative’ were more likely to rate this quality as unimportant. Sixty-one percent of respondents feel that lack of traffic congestion is ‘Very important’ and thirty-five percent feel that it is ‘Somewhat important’. Thirty-six percent rated greater CDA as ‘Fair’, (forty-percent) feel it is ‘good’ or ‘Very good’. Twenty-four percent feel that it is ‘Poor’ or ‘Very poor’. A little over half of respondents stated that availability of bike paths and trails is ‘Very important’ (fifty-three percent). Thirty-seven percent stated that it is ‘Somewhat important’. Ninety percent of respondents feel that the greater CDA area’s availability of bike paths and trails is ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’. Respondents whose secondary residence is in greater CDA were more likely to rate this quality as unimportant.

Table 27: Assessing service taxes on tourists

Table 28: Lack of traffic congestion

Table 29: Availability of bike paths

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Availability of public

transportation, such as buses or

car pools


Somewhat Important

40.6% Good 33.9%


8.8% Fair 30.7%



Don’t know 7.2%


Proximity to major airport


Somewhat Important

49.9% Good 52.7%


17.6% Fair 23.3%



Don’t know 0.7%


Access to high speed Internet


Somewhat Important

31.8% Good 45.6%


7.1% Fair 15.0%



Don’t know 4.9%

Eighty-six percent of respondents feel that availability of public transportation, such as buses or car pools is ‘Very important’ or ‘Somewhat important’. Thirty-four percent believe that greater CDA is ‘Good’, thirty-one percent believe that it is ‘Fair’, followed by sixteen percent who believe that it is ‘Poor’. The respondents that identified the greater CDA as their primary residence were significantly more likely to rate this quality as poor or very poor. Half of respondents (fifty-percent) ranked proximity to major airport as ‘Somewhat important’. Twenty-eight percent of respondents ranked it as ‘Very important’. Half of respondents ranked the greater CDA as ‘Good’ (fifty-three percent). Respondents whose secondary residence is in greater CDA were more likely to rate this quality as unimportant. Fifty-eight percent of respondents feel that access to high speed internet is ‘Very important’ while thirty-two percent feel that it is ‘Somewhat important’. When rating the greater CDA forty-six percent of respondents believe that greater CDA is ‘Good’. Twenty-seven percent feel that it is ‘Very good’.

Table 30: Availability of public transportation

Table 31: Proximity to major airport

Table 32: Access to high speed internet

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Section 6:

Past and Future Respondents were asked whether they believe the greater Coeur d’Alene area has gotten better or worse in the time they have lived there. Forty-five percent feel that it has become better, thirty-six percent feel that it has stayed the same, and twenty percent feel that it has become worse. When asked if Coeur d’Alene will become worse, the same, better the in the future. Fifty percent of respondents felt it would get better, thirty percent felt it would stay the same and twenty percent feel that it would get worse. Three in four people who felt that the greater Coeur d’Alene area has gotten better also feel that it will become better in the future. Respondents whose primary residence is in greater CDA were more likely to say that in the time they have lived here things have become worse (p-value 0.0384). Residents who identified accountability of leaders as the one thing that greater Coeur d’Alene could do to meet their expectation were more likely to believe things will get better (p-value .0255). Those who feel the one thing greater Coeur d’Alene could do is manage growth were more likely to believe thing will get worse (p-value 0.0325). When asked to explain why greater Coeur d’Alene has become a worse place to live the most frequent responses were population growth (twenty eight percent), and development (eleven percent). When asked to explain why greater Coeur d’Alene has become better, twenty-two percent of respondents felt it was due to an increase in business and variety of industry, twenty-one percent felt it was due to population growth. Twenty percent of residents reported population growth as the reason greater Coeur d’Alene will become worse, followed by thirteen percent who believe that it will be due to local leadership. When asked why they feel the greater Coeur d’Alene area will become better, seventeen percent cited population increase, followed by eleven percent who believe it will be due to development.

Figure 9: Comparing views of the past and future

Figure 10: Relationship between views of the past and future

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Conclusion

The residents of the greater Coeur d’Alene area have a variety of opinions and viewpoints on the many topics covered in the survey. The strengths of the greater Coeur d’Alene are recognized more frequently than the weaknesses and issues. More than half of respondents agree that the scenic beauty and environment is its greatest strength but only sixteen percent of residents agree lack of jobs is its greatest weakness. In the same respect, only twenty percent of residents agree that the greatest issue facing greater Coeur d’Alene today is population growth. Residents believe that most community qualities discussed in the survey were ‘Somewhat’ or ‘Very important’. Greater Coeur d’Alene was rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Very good’ in nearly all of these qualities. The qualities that were rated lowest were ‘diversity of jobs and professional opportunities’ and ‘availability of living wage jobs’. Diversity of jobs is the only category to have the highest proportions of respondents rate ‘Fair’, and living wage jobs was the only quality to have the highest proportion of respondents select ‘Poor’ or ‘Very poor’. When thinking about the past and future of greater Coeur d’Alene, most residents feel that it has and will continue to become a better place to live. Population growth and development were the most frequently mentioned topics in resident’s explanations. Similar proportions of respondents credited ‘population growth’ as the reason the greater Coeur d’Alene area has become a worse and better place in the time they have lived there. Similar proportions of residents feel that ‘development’ is the reason that the area has become a worse place to live and feel it will be the reason the area will become a better place to live in the future.

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Coeur d’Alene · Monica A. Reyna Jennifer C. Smith Barbara E. Foltz Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) ... Diversity of jobs and professional opportunities..... 19 Table 12: Natural